Slayers Win
by Lord Slayer
Summary: A series of drabbles concerning Shabranigdo's resurection during the first season. Will do it from different character's points of view, readers vote for who I do next. First one is an OC from story Slayers Learn. Please enjoy!


**Author's Note: **This is the first of a series of drabbles I plan on doing concerning the resurrection of Shabranigdo in the first season. This first one focuses on my OC Ralse Kalvos from my previous story, **Slayers Learn**. For those of you who don't know, Ralse is supposed to have been Lina's teacher for a short time after she and Naga split up, and he sent her out for a sort of rite-of-passage to graduate from her apprenticeship, which leads to Lina's meeting of Gourry, and so on and so forth. This is first part is kind of a mini-prequel. If you haven't read **Slayers Learn**, then you should, it's pretty awesome, lol.

Aaaaaaanway, which characters I focus on will be decided by you, the reader. I will be setting up a poll on my profile page, and you guys can vote on which characters you want me to do next. The poll will be open until I get started on my next chapter (which will be based upon how long it takes for people to vote, but it will be a week minimum), and you may vote more than once. If you want me to write about someone not currently on the list, then vote OTHERS and send me a PM telling who it is. Some people will be grouped together because I kind of sorta have an idea of how I'm going to do their stories, but feel free to PM me suggestions. However, I will NOT do Lina, Gourry, or Zelgadis, since they were there and it's pretty easy to guess what was going on in their heads at the time.

As always, please enjoy this, and please review.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Slayers. Slayers is owned by Hajime Kanzaka.

L-Sama- And I own Kanzaka!

Me- You own Kanzaka-sama? Even though he created you?

L-Sama- Yes.

Me- How does that even make sense?

L-Sama- Well, it goes kind of something like this... SHOVEL ATTACK!

Me- Owwwwww....

**1: Ralse Kalvos**

Ruby Eyes Shabranigdo had been reborn!

He did not know how or why, but he knew. The horrible sense of dread and despair, the crushing weight of dark power, the psychic cry of despair that all of nature had given out at the moment of the awakening. All of these things that all masters of magic could sense heralded the Dark Lord's second return.

And to absolutely prove that it was Ruby Eyes, the two tablets that he and every other high-ranked sorcerer kept on their study walls were glowing. The Ars Goetia Plane Chart, which described the descent of evil- from the Golden Lord to the Five Retainers- was easily the most unsettling, for the crimson glow of the eye which represented Shabranigdo was a most ominous sight indeed.

Hanging beside the Goetia was the second, smaller tablet, called the Doom Flower. In the was carved the symbol known as the Ruby Eye of Blood, the same symbol which appeared upon the Plane Chart. Set within the stone and surrounding and branching out from the Eye were seven petal-shaped shards of ruby. Each petal was magically in-tune with each piece of Shabranigdo's soul, and so each shard's current strength could be monitored by the intensity of each petal's glow. For a thousand years, six of the petals had glowed with the same steady light, while the seventh had remained blackened and dim, representing the imprisoned piece of the Ma-o's soul that had been dubbed Demon King of the North. But now one of the petals was now shining with a fierce and bloody light.

The Demon King was reborn!

Ralse Kalvos stared at the tablets upon his wall in silent, utter terror. Only in his worst nightmares had he believed that he would live to see the day when the terror that was Shabranigdo would be unleashed upon the world again.

Yet strangely, it was not the looming annihilation of the world which weighed most heavily upon the middle-aged sorcerer's mind, or even the thought of facing a foe that he had no hope of defeating.

_'Lina's out there,'_ he thought, _'Lina was supposed to be coming, and she's out there in the middle of that nightmare!'_

It had been almost half a month since he had instructed Lina to go out on "one last adventure," and then return to Ralse's tower here in Atlas City to formally end her apprenticeship to him. She had been meant to return sometime within the next ten days; and the strength of the Dark Lord's aura indicated that He couldn't be more than a few days away either.

Every fiber of Ralse's being screamed for him to rush out and find her. He loved that girl like a daughter, and he would gladly lay down his life for her. But he had another duty to fulfill as well.

For years Ralse had researched ways of combating high level mazoku; research that had eventually born fruit, though nothing that would guarantee a demon's destruction or the caster's survival. Most certainly nothing that would kill even a seventh of Shabranigdo. Nonetheless, he had to try. Even if he didn't survive- and he knew that he probably wouldn't- he might be able to do something to slow the Dark Lord down, or perhaps even weaken him enough so that someone else could defeat him before the Demon King could assimilate the rest of himself.

But Lina was still out there!

_'Relax,'_ he thought, forcing himself to take a deep breath. _'Think it through rationally. Lina's a smart girl. She'll stay out of Shabranigdo's way. She and every other magic-user in the barrier can sense him now, so surely she'll stay away. She'll stay where it's safe.'_

Boy was he a bad liar, he realized, even to himself!

"Lina," Kalvos said in a half-whisper, "Please, forgive me."

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The earth shook, and the land cried out with every step taken. The Dark Lord was approaching!

"Is the vessel secured, Mentar?" Ralse asked as he landed upon the wide balcony and stepped back into his study.

"Yes, master," the big minotaur replied, "The vessel is ready."

Mentar was Ralse Kalvos' manservant, and the caretaker and guardians of his tower. Many years before, Ralse had rescued him from slavers, resulting in the grateful minotaur swearing a life debt to the human sorcerer. Though often moody and unwilling to associate with other humans any more than he had to, Mentar's loyalty and faithfulness were second to none.

"Good work, my friend," Ralse replied as he shoved the minotaur roughly- the minotaur equivalent of a pat on the back. "Everything is now ready, and you have nothing to gain by staying here. You may now go wherever you desire, and...,"

"Do not insult me, master," Mantar interrupted. "You know that the life debt is forever binding. My honor could not allow me to abandon you, even if I wanted to. You are a good master, and I would gladly die for you. And besides, where could I or anyone else go that would be safe from the Great Crimson One?"

"Oh well," sighed Ralse, "It was worth a try."

"No, it wasn't," the bull-man snorted.

"Yes, you're right," the sorcerer laughed, the first real thing to amuse him in many hours.

Growing solemn once more, he turned towards the machine which now dominated the majority of his study.

"Let us prepare," he said.

After giving it a great deal of thought, Ralse had finally decided upon the weapon that was the most likely to do the most amount of damage. This weapon was a highly complex device that used a fifteen hundred year old Holy Magic Vessel that Ralse owned to fire a many-times amplified blast of pure shinzoku power in order to grievously wound the ma-o'. Unfortunately, the power build-up required to harm Shabranigdo would take at least an hour to build-up, and would likely destroy the tower and everyone in it upon release. And Shabranigdo was less than a day away! Even now his foul, blood-red aura could be seen rising up above the city walls. Time was running out.

Ralse closed his eyes and sent a prayer up to Ceipheed. A prayer that this plan would work, that Shabranigdo would be destroyed, and that Lina would be safe. He then reached out to flip the switch that would begin the charge up.

Just then, the largest and most fearsome power spike yet struck, completely paralyzing Ralse and causing him to fall to his knees.

"Master!" Mantar called out, running to help his friend up.

"W-what is this incredible power that I feel?" Ralse gasped.

A quick glance at the Ars Goetia answered his question. Now along with the Ruby Eye of Blood, the top-most symbol- the Golden Sun of Black and White Creation- was glowing, though its aura was both black and gold. The symbol of the Lord of Nightmares!

"It can't be!" he breathed. Then, feeling himself drawn by an unknown source, Ralse made his way to the balcony and looked out towards the horizon.

Beyond Atlas City's walls the clouds were pitch black and swirling all about like a great whirlpool in the sky. Beneath the spiral clouds, Shabranidgo's foul, crimson aura flared terribly. But what held Ralse's attention, however, was the jagged, ebony pillar which came down from the midst of the swirling clouds like black lightning.

A vague mention of a secret spell created several years before came back to Ralse's mind at that moment. Then with that memory came the realization of what had drawn him to the window, and what was bringing the Lord of Nightmare's power into their world. Now he could sense it. It was a tiny power compared to the great infernos of strength which were now at war with one another, like a sparrow trapped between two hurricanes, but it was a power which Ralse could pick out from anywhere.

"LINA!" he shouted desperately as he clutched at the stone railing for support.

His Lina was facing Shabranigdo! His Crimson Angel was up against a Dark Lord! She was in danger! He had to help her now! He had to-

The sorcerer's swirling thoughts were interrupted as a black shockwave shot throughout the countryside, throwing everyone caught within the blast to the ground. Three seconds later, a deafening explosion like a thousand claps of thunder rumbled throughout the land.

Slowly and painfully, Ralse pulled himself back to his feet. It took the sorcerer a few moments to realize that the oppressive feeling that the Dark Lord's resurrection had caused was now gone. When he did finally notice, it was as like a moment of golden silence after a fierce battle. Beyond the city's walls, the sky was as clear and bright as the first spring in history. The earth no longer trembled. Nature no longer cried out in pain. Turning towards the Ars Goetia, Ralse saw that neither Ruby Eyes nor the Golden Lord's crest were lit.

He continued to stare at the large tablet in awe until a sharp crack caught his attention. Turning towards the Doom Flower tablet, Ralse watched as the petal of ruby that had been glowing so fiercely a moment before shattered in a brilliant explosion of ruby shards.

The sorcerer fell to his knees, his mind overwhelmed by too many emotions. Joy. Relief. Shock. Awe. Amazement. Hope. Happiness.

With tear-filled eyes and a voice full of pride, Ralse at last managed to choke out, "Lina, you wonderful, amazing child!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of that day was a day of rejoicing and celebration. The strength of Shabranigdo's presence had been so great that even those who did not use magic had known when the Dark Lord had been approaching their city, though only those trained in magic had been able to discern what it had meant. Thankfully, despite the number of sorcerers in Atlas City, enough of the city's spellcasters had had enough sense to keep quiet about the Dark Lord's resurrection and squash any rumors started by those with looser tongues, so as to prevent panic. But upon the Demon King's defeat, not even Ralse Kalvos could help but shout it out to everyone he met.

There was singing and dancing in the streets. Bars and taverns giving out free booze. The churches were filled to overflowing by the faithful. Everywhere there was joy and happiness. And thanks to the long-range communication abilities that magic provided, this same scene was being repeated all over the Mazoku Peninsula.

The fact that no one knew how the Dark Lord had been reborn or who had defeated him did not seem to bother anyone. In fact, it presented opportunity for wild stories, theories and rumors to breed like rabbits in the springtime- especially those concerning his death. Stories ranged everywhere from Rezo the Red Priest being the one to defeat him, to direct intervention by Ceipheed, to the Swordsman of Light traveling through time from the days of Zanafar to defeat the Dark Lord. Many a wannabe hero boasted loudly of their epic battle against the Ma-o' in the taverns, though of coure none but the most gullible took such outlandish tales seriously.

For Ralse Kalvos, however, the joy of Shabranigdo's defeat was less than perfect, for two things weighed heavily upon his heart. The first reason was that he did not know if his young apprentice had survived the battle with the Dark Lord, for her spiking energy level had dropped so rapidly after that last spell, and eventually disappeared altogether, that the thought of her dying of exhaustion was not out of the question. The second reason was that Ralse's own teacher and mentor was now no more. Looking back upon what he had sensed, Ralse realized that a fourth power just before that blast; a power that he had been well acquainted with, a power that had been struggling against- struggling _within_- the Dark Lord's power. And Ralse knew that his old friend had not survived.

At about noon the next day, Ralse was sitting at a desk in his study- which had by now been cleared of his anti-Dark Lord machine- and considering on whether he should go out and look for Lina or not. He was startled out of his thoughts by a loud knock at the door.

"Enter," he said, after making righting himself from his half-fallen-out-of-chair position.

"Sir," Mantar replied as he stepped through the door, "There is a pair of human travelers at the door requesting to see you."

"Is it Lina?" Kalvos asked, trying and failing to not sound excited.

"You know that I find it difficult to tell one human apart from another, Master," the minotaur snorted. "One was, I believe, a male with yellow hair, and a much shorter female with white hair. However, I could be mistaken about their genders, as both had long hair, and the white haired one had very little cleavage to spoke of. However, the white haired one did expect me to have recognized her."

Ralse considered this information for a moment. Although he knew many blond men- Halcyform, the current chairman of Atlas City's Sorcerer's Guild for one- and some white haired women, nearly all of the altter were elderly.

"Was this white haired girl young or old?"

"Young, sir."

"Hmmm," Kalvos pondered, wracking his brains for who it might be. Short and lacking female assets did not describe any of the young white haired women that he knew. But then again, he realized with hope, it wasn't unheard of for a spellcaster's hair to turn white after overexerting himself in a magic battle on rare occasions. It had even happened to Ralse himself once or twice in the past.

"I think I shall go down and greet these strangers myself," the sorcerer said as he stood up.

"As you wish, master," Mantar bowed as Kalvos swept past him.

Ralse moved swiftly down the long spiral staircase of his twenty story tower. Upon reaching the bottom, though, he had to take a minute or two to lean on the banister to catch his breath.

"Getting old sucks," the sorcerer complained, not for the first time.

Once he had regained his composure, Ralse made his way to the heavy oak double doors that led out of his home. Upon pulling the gate open, his face broke out in a warm smile of relief and love.

The tall, blond swordsman was unknown to him, but the swordsman's much smaller female companion was instantly recognizable, despite the horrid white hair that had temporarily replaced her beautiful, fiery locks.

"Hey Master Kalvos!" Lina said with a very pleased, childish grin. "You'll never guess what I've been up to!"


End file.
